4. The target audience for
this magazine includes
people who are around
the age of 18 – 30
interested in hip hop
and rap music. This
particular magazine
appeals to black males
the most due to the
main celebrity used and
the main cover line.
Target audience
5. Masthead & Selling Line
The logo for This magazine is
extremely bright and bold. This
works well for a magazine logo
because when a client is looking
to buy the magazine they need to
be able to see and identify it
quickly, the brightness and size of
the logo also help catch the
customers eye even if they
weren't looking for it. The selling
line is short and simple for a brief
skim read and effective because
of the alliteration techniques used
to try and make the customer sub
consciously be attracted to buying
the magazine.
6. Main Image
The main image of a magazine is by
far the most important factor
considering how many sales that
issue will make. Even for somebody
that purchases that particular
magazine a lot it is important they
have a famous and popular celebrity
on the front cover. The choice of
celebrity also confirms to people
who don’t normally read the
magazine on the kind of content that
is most likely going to be included in
the magazine and its target
audience. This particular magazine
has a very good picture that would
stand out very well, definitely catch
the eye of potential buyers and the
main image alone determines an
exact style.
7. Cover Lines & Main Sells
The style and font of the cover lines are bold and rugged
looking. This implies a sense of power and manliness into the
stories. This would work well for appealing to males. The main
cover line reads “black power” This is a very bold statement for
a magazine and creates a controversial aspect to the magazine.
9. The target audience for
this magazine would be
mainly males aged
around 16 – 30 who are
interested in heavy
metal music.
Target audience
10. Masthead and selling line
The masthead on this magazine is
blended into the main image, usually
this wouldn’t work too well because
the masthead needs to stand out,
however on this magazine cover the
main image stands out enough on its
own and the masthead fits the style of
the cover better. The masthead is a
strong style and would catch the eye
of any customer looking for a
magazine to do with metal music. The
selling line again is short and sweet,
this reading “defenders of the faith”
appeals greatly to their target
audience and people who are
passionate about music.
11. Main image
The main image of this magazine is
an extremely impressive and
noticeable one. The image instantly
reads the genre of music and type of
stories that will be in the magazine to
anybody who hasn’t seen it before.
Another important factor of the
image is that it will play well with the
fans of the magazine because it is a
bold cover choice and their target
audience are those who like their
music different to everybody else.
12. Cover Lines & Main Sells
The cover lines of this magazine are in bold text designed to look
like they are written in blood. These two factors work well
because it is not only easy for a customer to read but it appeals to
them before they even read it.
13. Comparisons
Overall The two magazine covers, despite looking completely
different are extraordinarily similar in an attempt to achieve the
same goals.
The Metal Hammer cover was an interesting design because of
how plain it was and because they used the main image as the
whole of the background, however the XXL magazine was
effective because it managed to include a lot of information in a
way that would still catch a shoppers eye and not bore them too
much to read.
I Personally prefer the XXL cover because I think it looked
smoother and more professional whilst giving a little more
information about what kind of content to expect without having to
look at the inside.
14. Ideas for your own magazine
For my own magazine I would definitely consider using a
striking main image in the way that the Metal Hammer cover
did however I would choose more of a smart, plain title to
compliment this.
I would choose to put in more cover lines as the XXL cover did
along with competitions however I wouldn’t put too many on
because I appreciate the style of having a simple, plain but
effective cover.
